When Endymion Came Riding
by Ceila
Summary: Alfred Noyles "The Highwayman" as adapted to the story of Serenity and Endymion. (Complete)


Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or anything that goes with her   
so please don't sue me. I also didn't write the original ballad, The  
Highwayman, Alfred Noyles did.  
  
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2/10/00  
When Endymion Came Riding  
  
By Ceila  
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The wind was a torrent of darkness, amung the gusty trees,  
The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas,  
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the purple moor,  
And Endymion came riding-  
Riding – riding -  
Endymion came riding, up to the palace door.  
  
His ebony hair flying out of place, a determined look upon his face,  
A cape of claret velvet, and breeches of onyx like skin;  
They fit with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!  
He rode with a jeweled twinkle,  
His pistol buts a - twinkle,  
His rapier hilt a- twinkle, under the jeweled sky.  
  
Over the cobbles he clattered and crashed in the dark palace yard,  
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;  
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there  
But the Queen's blue – eyed daughter,  
Serenity, the Queen's daughter,  
Plaiting a dark red love knot into her long golden hair.  
  
And dark in the palace yard a stable wicket creaked  
Where Beryl the villain listened; her face was white and peaked;  
Her eyes were hollows of madness, her hair like flaming hay,  
She hated the Moon Queen's daughter,  
The Queen's precious daughter,  
Dumb as a dog she listened, and she heard the Earth Prince say-  
  
"One kiss my sweet princess, I battle the demons tonight,  
But I shall return victorious before the morning light,  
Yet, if the battle lingers, and goes through the day,  
Then look for me by moonlight,  
Watch for me by moonlight,  
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."  
  
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,  
She offered him her star locket! His face burnt like a brand  
As the melody of love came tumbling over his ears;  
And he heard its song in the moonlight,  
(Oh, sweet melody of moonlight!)  
Then he rode away in the moonlight, unaware of her silent tears.  
  
Part II  
  
He did not come at the dawning; he did not come at noon;  
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,  
When the road was a gypsy ribbon, looping the purple moor  
The negaforce came marching,  
Marching, marching,  
Queen Beryl's army came marching, up to the palace door.  
  
They gave no advanced warning, just destroyed the Palace instead,  
Beryl gave her orders, the Moon Kingdom would soon be dead;  
Serenity watched from the balcony, love was on their side!  
There was death at every window;  
And hell at one dark window,  
For she could see, her friends, the Sailor Senshi had died.  
  
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;  
They bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!  
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say-  
Look for me by moonlight;  
Watch for me by moonlight;  
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!  
  
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!  
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!  
They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,  
Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,  
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,  
The tip of one figure touched it! The trigger at least was hers!  
  
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!  
Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast,  
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;  
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;  
Blank and bare in the moonlight;  
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain.  
  
Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;  
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?  
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,  
Endymion came riding,  
Riding, riding!  
Beryl's men looked to their priming! She stood up strait and still!  
  
Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!  
Nearer he came and nearer! Her love was like a light!  
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,  
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,  
Her musket shattered the moonlight,  
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him-with her death.  
  
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood  
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood!  
Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew gray to hear  
How Serenity, the Moon Queen's daughter,  
The Queen's blue -eyed daughter,  
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.  
  
Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,  
With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!  
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,  
When they shot him down on the highway,  
Down like a dog on the highway,  
And he lay in his blood on the highway, the locket played one last note.  
  
******  
  
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,  
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,  
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,  
Endymion comes riding-  
Riding-riding-  
Endymion comes riding, up to the palace door.  
  
Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark palace yard,  
And he taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;  
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there  
But the Queen's blue-eyed daughter,  
Serenity, the Queen's daughter,  
Plaiting a dark red love knot into her long golden hair.  
  
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This is a re-write of the ballad The Highwayman by Alfred Noyles.   
I suggest that anyone and everyone should read the original version   
as well. The story in the original poem was just too close to the   
Endymion - Serenity story that it seemed fitting to write this with   
the proper changes. Thanks bunches for reading.  
  
Ceila  
mail, I need mail please!   
k340029@excite.com 


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